Please Don’t Lump ‘Cops’ With Those ‘Reality’ Shows

We at the Fox series “Cops” read with growing dismay Calendar’s articles regarding the ruling by a federal judge who criticized the Secret Service and U.S. Attorney’s office for taking a crew from CBS’ “Street Stories” along while serving a warrant for credit-card fraud.

We watched with the dreaded fascination of an onlooker caught in an avalanche, sure that with enough media coverage we would be swept up with the rest.

This happened in “Judge Says ‘Reality’ Shows Can’t Join Raids,” (Calendar, Nov. 23, where “Cops” was branded as a “so-called ‘reality’ series with ‘Street Stories’ and ’48 Hours.’ ” May we now cut ourselves out of the pack?

First off, “Cops” is not a “so-called reality series” but is TV’s only reality police series. We have no music, slow-motion, retakes, narrators--nothing between the viewer and the action in the street. We are a video verite show depicting real people and real crime, filmed as it happens, without recreations, re-enactments or staging of any kind.

And unlike our colleagues, we consider ourselves to be primarily entertainment programming, not exclusively news with its accompanying umbrella of protection. To the extent that we have recognized an entertainment component in “Cops,” we have taken steps not to subject ourselves to the same legal mishmash as our colleagues.

In a litigious society and industry, it is no accident that we have produced more than 160 shows without a single lawsuit filed against us, the result of a policy of protecting civil rights second to none.

Our crews are instructed to cease filming if anyone so requests, and if anyone filmed does not voluntarily sign a release allowing themselves to be shown on “Cops,” either the segments are discarded or their identities are electronically shielded by blurring. This is more stringent than required by law, which allows anyone convicted of a crime to be identified. We decided that all suspects, regardless of the outcome of their trials, be afforded the same rights as everyone else.

It is an irony when a program that is primarily entertainment has given itself more stringent requirements than the so-called TV news magazines who, under the banner of news, show everyone and everything they wish.

No wonder the focus becomes blurred when local news shows consistently package entertainment as news. Perhaps we saw the only pure news when we were in London to do the cops of Scotland Yard, and the BBC announcer opened up the morning’s London Times and thereupon began reading the newspaper over the TV.